Category Archives: telematics

There are many types of telematics Hardware devices, cables, tablets, and sensors that exist in the market that all serve different purposes. Often certain vehicles require completely different specs to perform their duty. For example, a snowplow is going to require a much sturdier and durable device which has the ability to identify when a snowplows arm and plow is in the down position or not, whereas a delivery vehicle would most likely not.

There are two main categories of questions to determine when making the decision on which devices to equip.

Equipment/ Vehicle Information

The model/make of the vehicle (a Prius and a Ford are inherently different so might require different devices).

The year of manufacture is also important (cars older than 1996 require different hardware)

Is the device going to need to be inside or outside of the cab?

Is power needed or not

Functional Information

What is the goal? Do we just need to track or is more functionality needed?

How many inputs are needed (e.g., right broom)?

Will you be needing engine diagnostics?

Do you need to identify the driver using the vehicle?

Staff to install or not?

These questions help narrow down the needs of your fleet and can identify the types of devices to be used. Below is a list of the different types of devices which each serve different purposes.

Hardware varies in complexity of installation, some are simple plug and play while others may require more technical knowledge of how to properly integrate the devices with the respective vehicles.

For more information on the different devices and capabilities please feel free to request a demo in which we can go in depth about all the different hardware, you may also want to check out our recorded Webinar in which we also explore these devices and more.

Having trouble on deciding whether to make the switch to implementing telematics? Better Management = Smarter Government you need information and metrics to manage! LiGO enables operations managers and workers in the field to have up to date and useful information.

Know where your resources are

At any point in time know where your valuable resources (vehicles and people) are.

“Trust but verify”.

Mobile Resource history

Look at where a vehicle or crew traveled throughout a particular day, week or month.

Fuel Savings – Idling, Speeding

Reduce fuel costs & “Go Green” by reducing driver idling time, speeding, fast acceleration, and more. Savings and ROI can be derived in just days!

Regulatory Compliance

Help meet NPDES MS4 Stormwater and other regulatory compliance requirements with accurate daily, monthly yearly record keeping and reporting.

Route Optimization for Better Dispatching

Efficiently dispatching drivers on optimized routes will reduce fuel consumption, enhance productivity and reduce overtime. LiGO will help you find the right resources that are the closest to the work site.

Prevent Vehicle Abuse and Wear and Tear

Monitoring and reporting of aggressive driving combined with the use of in vehicle audible warnings feedback will reduce wear and tear on your fleet vehicle.

Safety = Saving

The tracking of speeding and aggressive driving events can modify driver behavior. This reduces accidents and insurance rates as well as vehicle and driver down time.

Stop Unauthorized Vehicle Use

Detail time and trip history reports will reduce drivers wasting time, unauthorized trip and stops. Report after hour’s vehicle usage and provide vehicle location for theft recovery.

Some Important Notes about Automatic Route Optimization

The automatic optimization of Routes requires solving a notorious and complex problem in computer science called “The Travelling Salesman Problem”. Truly solving the problem and obtaining the guaranteed best route for a set of points on a map is an extremely time and resource consuming problem. It is even more complex on road networks where the distance between two points might be different depending on which direction you drive between them due to one way road systems.

For this reason, the automatic optimization feature uses an approach which performs an estimate and gets a result that is not necessarily the very best solution but should be a good one and should help give your fleet significant fuel savings over time when used for a workers daily set of jobs. If your route is optimized automatically by LiGO it will let you know how much time you saved when it is finished.

Below is an example of an optimized route in Boise – that reduced total drive time by 50% for interoffice mail delivery at the City, and an example of an auto generated route geofence that you can use for other reports. This route optimization that had such an impact on Boise mail delivery took 5 seconds, and no GIS data processing.

Our take on route optimization is that there are two basic types

GIS-based analytical optimization, similar to hydraulic modelling for water systems, that is complex, is done infrequently, and only as good as the underlying data.

Using OSM (openstreetmap.org) data, LiGO® is able to generate useful results for optimizing travel through a set of points. At no extra cost, the route management functionality allows you to see the estimated distance and journey time of your planned routes and lets you automatically optimize with the “Optimize” feature or you can configure them manually with your local area knowledge. Within LiGO® you can import a pre-existing route from GIS or similar geospatial systems, you can create the route manually, or you can drive a route and auto create the route. Routes can then be edited, deleted, and reassigned to workers.

How you can use this information

Reports can be created for total time in a route GeoFence, time stopped, time with “plow down”, or other onboard engine event within a route geofence. Other metrics such as time to job and time on job are auto calculated and turn by turn directions are provided via our free LiGO® Mobile app. Theses logistics will help you always be the most efficient manager possible, cutting time and costs at wherever necessary. This also opens avenues to improve customer relationships with more accurate info on the location and status of your crews in the field.

Viewing Route Details

After configuring Route Optimization, your new and existing routes will now contain an extra field called Route Details. Here you can see the current length and estimated journey time of the route with the stops in the order that they currently stand. The map also contains a track drawn with directional arrows showing you the optimal route to take between each stop.

Optimizing Your Route

If you drag the stops around in the Route window to reorder them, the track on the map and the Route Details field will update in real time to show the newly calculated route. This is ideal when you have local knowledge of the area and want to use this specialist knowledge to tune your routes.

If you would like LiGO® to optimize your route automatically, you can click the “Optimize” button in the lower left hand side of the Route

In most cases, a mixture of the two approaches will yield the best results. Try an automatic optimization of the route to get off to a good start and then experiment with switching some stops around in areas that you know have complex road structures.

Often, the concept of going green is associated with more expensive and less productive ways of doing things. As it turns out, this is not always the case. Our LiGO telematics solution paves the way for you to transform your fleet operations into greener, more efficient ones. The combination of lower vehicle maintenance costs, improved fuel efficiency and overall improved productivity allow this to happen.

What do we mean by ‘Going Green’?

Simply put, going green means reducing the direct impact of our carbon footprint on the earth wherever possible. many of the functions that fleets perform have a direct or indirect impact on our environment. This could be the use of paper for reporting and logging functions, or the CO2 emissions released by most vehicles on the road. Eliminating waste where reasonably possible not only helps our earth and its inhabitants, it also improves operation productivity and reduces overhead costs.

How will ‘Going Green’ help you save on costs

Implementation of our LiGO telematics solution means that all vehicle logistics are available to you at all times. being alerted about long idle times, unnecessary trips, and harsh braking and accelerating enable you to do something about these issues. Stopping your fleet vehicles from using more fuel than needed will help reduce fuel costs, while the harsh driving alerts allow you to make whatever changes necessary to prevent the degradation of the vehicles, ultimately reducing maintenance costs. Additionally, being aware of harsh drivers among your crew will keep your employees and others using the roads much safer.

How will ‘Going Green’ help you save on time

One advantage of LiGO telematics is the ability to reduce paper waste by switching to digital. Switching to digital not only reduces amount of paper wasted but has also been shown to provide better data with less mistakes and inaccuracies. Reports can more easily be automated, checked of any mistakes, and shared by just a click of a button. Furthermore, the move to digital paper work is a trend now long in the making. The inevitability of digitized work places in most industries is commonly accepted as exactly that, inevitable.

To recap here are some of the main ways ‘Going Green’ can help you save

Integration makes our product easy to implement while maximizing returns. One of the many functions of LiGO® ACCESS is its API functionality; our customers can keep the existing business systems with which staff are comfortable and familiar with, reducing training efforts and accelerating implementation. This means that the entirety of the telematics data collected by our software solutions can be interpreted, and then fed to a number of secondary systems for other purposes.

What are API’s how do they help?

API’s short for Application Programming Interface, is a characteristic of any software which allows it to connect different devices, and applications by allowing the transfer of data. It is what allows us to book a reservation at a hotel with just a few clicks on a device. It is the link between a command and results in times when the system in which you create the command, and the system in which the results derive from are separate. One analogy would compare an API to the pizza hut employee who takes your call places the order, and then sends the delivery driver in your direction. API’s effectively make communication between different applications possible whilst also enabling the use of the same data for different functions. The beauty of API’s is that the work they do is all behind the scenes, similar to code on a webpage; even though you can’t see it the code is constantly working to do whatever the input demands of it.

Integration features

LiGO® ACCESS web services, was first developed to enhance GeoKNX – a mature MarshallGIS product that pulls and pushes work orders and service requests to and from Lucity, Infor/Hansen and IBM/Maximo’s Enterprise Asset Management, and Work Management Systems (EAM/WMS) for over 100 customers and hundreds of thousands of service requests. We now have this functionality for LiGO®, and have added Cityworks and Esri integration.

All modules are integrated together, but can be turned off or on based on permissions (uncheck modules if you don’t want them). MarshallGIS has extensive experience with integrating Mobile Work Order Management and Service Requests with location based systems such as ArcGIS including creates, updates and deletes.

Esri GIS Integration

Cityworks Integration

MarshallGIS has been partnered with Cityworks for over 5 years and is committed to support Cityworks integration. API’s are designed to fluidly transition without breaks during a software version change.

No third party tools are needed to maintain integration.

We’ve also developed a work flows to push odometer readings from LiGO® into Cityworks and create a vehicle work order for activities such as vehicle inspections, oil changes and tire rotations base on miles and or time.

Garmin Integration

LiGO® can be optionally provisioned with Garmin’s for dispatch/jobs, routing and chat features, and even real time (based on traffic) estimated time of arrival. This can be enabled simply by checking Garmin as an option. Garmin integration brings a lot of additional functionality – including turn by turn directions, proximity sensors, additional driver ID with NFC, camera, video, and chat.

Displays

To display live vehicles/crew locations from LiGO® on your Cityworks Operation map or any ArcGIS map (Desktop, Server, Online) there are two methods. As always each have pros and cons.

LiGO® can use, but does not require, ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor to update a vehicle feature class on a user defined schedule. This method requires the user to have a Esri GEP license.

LiGO® can also send position updates to a user defined REST endpoint. The REST endpoint may be hosted at your location. If you prefer to simply publish a feature service with editing rights to the underlying vehicle feature class, LiGO® can host the REST endpoint and perform the transformation from the LiGO® output to JSON.

With LiGO® ACCESS API, Users can also populate data within Cityworks such as Work Orders or Service requests.

Last week’s tragic train derailment which killed at least three people, and injured hundreds more, highlights a very important issue that must be addressed. Reluctance for organizations to adopt new technologies is very common in almost every industry. This unwillingness comes from a number of different reasons, the most common being cost.

Positive Train Control or PTC is the technology designed to act as a safety net to prevent human errors which account for roughly 40% of train accidents. The technology uses GPS, wireless radio, and computers systems to stop trains from derailing, speeding, or colliding. PTC came about in the early 1990’s but didn’t gain traction or national attention until September 2008. This came as a response to a tragic railroad collision near Los Angeles which left 25 dead. Consequently, Congress moved to pass new rail safety laws that set a deadline of December 15, 2015 for the implementation of PTC technology across most of the US rail network. This was later extended at the request of many railroad companies to December 31, 2018.

So why the delay in implementing PTC you might ask? “The reason why they’ve been given so many extensions has been money,” said Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation inspector general. Many who oppose the mandate also question the validity of the technology. A 12-year study by the Federal Railroad Association concluded that the savings from the number of accidents avoided would not be enough to cover the costs of implementing PTC across Class I railroads (69% of U.S. freight rail mileage & 90% employees). Furthermore, in the 20 years from 1987 to 2007, 27 deaths from railroad accidents where recorded and the response to these accidents were all handled with changes to operating rules rather than implementation of technology. And now we find ourselves in 2017 with more people losing their lives to railroad accidents.

Cost benefits are a tricky balancing act for anybody in the decision making process. When it comes to safety however, a policy of ‘expecting the worst’ might be advised. Individuals in decision making positions should not take the adoption of technology lightly. No individual is solely responsible for the slow implementation of these technologies but rather a culmination of missteps and cold feet throughout the industry.

Telematics solutions offer more than just locations on a map. Yes, tracking is a fundamental aspect of the service that telematics provides, but the full story offers more avenues to improving operational efficiency. A common misconception about telematics solutions is that they only offer advantages to individuals in managing positions. This is entirely false; the benefits of implementing a solution to your fleet provide operational benefits to managers, and employees alike.

More than giving you locations on a map, telematics software has advanced to the point of being able to tell you every minute discrepancy of your high value asset or vehicle on the field. Aside from functions like Real-time tracking, and Geo-fencing which add useful metrics when looking at your “dots on a map”, functions like Reports, Historical views, Route optimization, Graph support, Alerts and notifications and many others, add significance in ways more valuable to running smooth operations. The list of features available with our telematics solution goes on forever, and mentioning and evaluating each one would take more time than I have. For more information on these however, feel free to reach us and set up a request for a demo.

Although it’s usually quite apparent as to the benefits these systems bring to individuals in managing positions in the fleet and public sector industries, the lesser known benefits that come to field workers and crews are equally manifested. In many of our case studies we have found that employee satisfaction with solutions employed is apparent after just a few months of implementation. In the office, streamlining the process of getting paper-work to become work orders or activities means crews receive only necessary information. Work orders and tasks that integrate with GIS features allow for better time management and delegation of tasks by presenting visual aides that also contribute useful information about routing, and other time management tools. The elimination of paper in the field makes for less chaotic organization and ease of mobility while performing field jobs. The digitization of everything also reduces the number of data entry errors. Crews and individual employees also have an added layer of protection and security against false claims that might be in relation to a work or service being performed or any type of accident that occurs while in the field. Having the type of data that telematics solutions like our own LiGO® telematics provide, really does add benefits to employees.

We have addressed in previous blogs, some of the potential benefits regarding things like on road-safety, and the streamlining and modernization of a rather archaic way of keeping records the ELD mandate would bring to primarily trucking industries. It would not be fair however to point out some of the short-comings of the whole idea and how it’s being implemented.

Self-Certification

There are many companies that have registered their ELD solution as being compliant and are currently on the official FMCSA list of compliant providers. However, the FMCSA has currently no way of testing these supposed compliant solutions, and neither is there any third party organization performing any sort of testing. A certified solution on that list could be legitimate, but could also be far from it. This creates a large grey area especially for customers trying to be compliant but having no sure-fire way of knowing whether the solution they pick has actually been tested or actually complies to all the regulation rules, and laws.

Although there have been procedures set in place to identify and remove registered solutions that are not compliant the whole process just adds to the frustration of company and independent truckers, and fleets who would much rather not have to deal with what can only be described as unnecessary set-backs.

Varying Degrees of Compliance

This comes mostly as a compounding effect of the self certification issue in that, there are currently a large number of devices out in the market that all collect analyse and process data differently. This again makes decision processes all the more challenging for managers looking for a solution. Manufacturers and programmers are also left in the dark about specifications and requirements of devices and software.

Some of the most notable push back for the ELD mandate has come from Individual truckers and small trucking fleet operators in what has become recognized as the #ELDorMe protests. Through October 6th to the 8th truckers gathered on the streets of Fresno California to protest the threat that the ELD mandate brings to their livelihood. A Facebook page under the name of “Operation Black and Blue” was created specifically to address the issues being protested and effectively put a stop to what they describe as government overreach, and over-regulation in the implementation of the ELD mandate.

Many of these truck drivers rely on a certain amount of flexibility in their operations. Being able to adjust time logs for miscellaneous things like the time it took to park or other unavoidable delays make a difference to the average trucker. Many of the required regulations that would result from the ELD mandate commendably strip these truckers of their ability to work with the level of flexibility they need.

What problems are you trying to solve?

Chances are, if your operations involve a fleet of sorts, or high value assets, you would benefit from implementing a telematics solution. It is important however, to identify the types of issues you would like to tackle, as well as areas in which you see an opportunity to cut costs. The types and degrees of telematics solution vary greatly in the breadth data they collect. Some focus more on simple GPS tracking, while others work to collect much more detailed telematics data that might pertain to driver behavior, job order status’s and progress, and many other miscellaneous data points that can be used to cut costs where possible. Fleet managers specifically should also pay close attention to the FMCSA’s ELD mandate regulations and whether these regulations apply to their operations or not.

Does the provider have experience, and how stable is the company?

This question applies to the beginning of any business relationship, telematics is no different. The level of experience a company has is usually a good indicator of how well they do in general. Since many operations looking to implement telematics solutions require specificity with their operations, it’s helpful to have a provider that has been in the field for quite some time and is ready to answer those specific questions you might have.

Does the company offer installation services, and training services?

Some telematics solutions are easy to install, some are not, knowing which it is might be a good idea. Furthermore, understanding the training services might better equip employees for the changes of implementing a telematics solution, there’s nothing worse than having a solution and not having any employees who understand or know how to use it.

How accurate is the data, and does it offer practical and actionable insights?

One thing is simply collecting data; acquiring data that can be used in insightful ways be it to cut expenses, or optimize efficiency is a completely different thing. Inaccurate data can do even more harm than no data at all.

Is the provider prepared to adapt to the needs and specifications of your business?

Something we’ve mentioned before, fleet management systems can vary greatly. different operations require different functionalities from a telematics solution. a delivery team will most likely require a different set of analytical data than say, a construction crew.

What integration capabilities does the company provide?

You may currently be using some 3rd party devices or systems in your operations, you may also be using certain software especially if you are in the public utilities sector or something similar. A good telematics solution is one that easily integrates with a number of other systems and can serve as an API capable of collecting processing and displaying data across many platforms. A telematics solution that is too rigid

Does the company offer a smart device app?

For fairly obvious reasons having smart device capabilities will ease the flow of work facilitating connections between field work and offices. Sending, receiving, analyzing job reports is just one of the functions that requires some sort of smart device communication.

What separates this telematics solutions to others?

What about this specific telematics solution puts it a cut above the rest? Is it the interface of the software, customer service, or something else?

For more information on Our own telematics solution head over to our site and request a demo. With over 20 years experience MarshallGIS has a long history of providing high-level GIS Strategic Planning services to state, county, & municipal governments, as well as utilities. These services are of value when an agency has a need for integration of GIS & their EAM (Hansen, Lucity, or Maximo) technologies across one or more departments, has new GIS initiatives they are considering, or need GIS data development. MarshallGIS will provide a high-level review of strategic business objectives & assessment of its major geographic & enterprise business system investments. Typically, we focus on what needs to be built & maintained across separate departmental operations to create improved asset & work activity management.

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